Important thing I may have accidentally found out

[LaparaLaela]

So I know that a lot of people don't like that you can't take a break from playing for more than a few days without potentially losing one of your villagers (me included), so this might be something that people would want to know about.

I went to intern at a camp for a few months this summer and I had to leave my game at home. So basically I didn't play all summer. I came back and decided to start up my game, and since I didn't have the patience or time to time travel through every day I had missed while I was gone, I decided to just suck it up and start playing at the current date. I thought that maybe though, if I did the plot resetting trick, I could choose who moved out.

So opened up AC and started with a new character, went through the motions with Rover, and stepped off the train to look around. The weird thing was that no one had moved out and no one was in boxes. I hesitantly started up the game on my mayor, and it stuck. No one moved out while I was gone because I did the plot resetting trick (AND I didn't even have to set down my plot.) I have repeated this trick several times, and its worked every time.

So. Basically. If you are gone for a long amount of time and you don't want to lose your villagers, try the plot resetting trick before losing hope.

 

[Milky-Chii]

This is really really helpful! ^w^ Thank you for sharing, I'll definitely use this method next time ♡

 

[JJarmon]

Definitely a good thing to do.

I've taken breaks from the game that turned into months, so I did this method a lot to see if anyone important moved out or not.

 

[princessmorgan]

WOw! I will definitely do this now! Thanks for sharing!!!!!

 

[Hypno KK]

I'm not sure what the plot resetting trick has anything to do with it, are you talking about starting as a new character before loading the game as the mayor? That doesn't have an effect on whether villagers move or not. It's just a safety measure that lets you check the current state of the town without saving it, in case you want to go back in time to prevent villagers from moving, and so that you won't have to bother if nothing's changed.

The only way to actually prevent villagers from moving is by denying someone's request to ping on the last day you play (either normally or by time travelling to that time). I've also heard that the effect is the same if nobody's thinking about moving on that date, which I think is true because I recently noticed that while time travelling, but I can't confirm with absolute certainty.

If starting a new character worked for you, it's probably because you denied a request to move or nobody was thinking about moving when you last played. The effect would have been the same if you'd started with your mayor, but it would just have been luck.

 

[LaparaLaela]

@Laser Beams

Except that every time before I happened to do this somebody moved out if I was gone longer than a week or so? I think the game will have one villager move out if you're gone for longer than that every time because that's what's happened to me every single time I haven't started a new character before coming back as my mayor. But every time I started a new character no one moved out. I've done this several times so the repeated trials and stuff seem pretty science-y. I SUPPOSE it could have been that I just happened to be lucky the times that I started with a new character, and happened to be unlucky the times I didn't, but I've done it many times now so it seems kinda unlikely that it's just chance.

Btw, I'm definitely not trying to attack you or anything I just wanted to explain my reasoning as to why I think this trick works (sometimes I have a hard time hearing how my words might sound lacking the tone of voice I imagine in my mind, and I just want to make sure that I'm not being hostile.). Maybe if other people try it and it works or doesn't then we can proceed from there? (Again, science since it would mean that it isn't just my 3ds/really wierd luck.)

 

[Hypno KK]

The game won't move villagers out just because you've been away for over a week. If you deny a villager's request to move on your last day playing and go on hiatus for months, nobody will have moved out. It's far more likely that it really was a coincidence and that before taking those breaks, you denied someone's request to move or nobody was thinking of moving out when you left. The other times you lost villagers was because someone was thinking about moving when you last played, and if you start as a new character under those circumstances, someone will be missing from the map anyway.

I've tested this, both by going on hiatus myself (both on purpose and unexpectedly), and by time travelling using the 3DS calendar (which replicates the effect of being away since the game thinks it's whatever date you've set, so that you even get the world traveller reputation among villagers instead of the time traveller one).

I also wrote a guide about it that discusses the mechanics of leaving your game for a while, if you're interested in the specifics: http://www.belltreeforums.com/showthread.php?209379-How-To-Not-Lose-Villagers-When-You-re-Away. There have been other threads in which people talk about their experiences as well.

Don't worry, you're not coming across as hostile.

 

[MayorAriella]

The game won't move villagers out just because you've been away for over a week. If you deny a villager's request to move on your last day playing and go on hiatus for months, nobody will have moved out. It's far more likely that it really was a coincidence and that before taking those breaks, you denied someone's request to move or nobody was thinking of moving out when you left. The other times you lost villagers was because someone was thinking about moving when you last played, and if you start as a new character under those circumstances, someone will be missing from the map anyway.

I've tested this, both by going on hiatus myself (both on purpose and unexpectedly), and by time travelling using the 3DS calendar (which replicates the effect of being away since the game thinks it's whatever date you've set, so that you even get the world traveller reputation among villagers instead of the time traveller one).

I also wrote a guide about it that discusses the mechanics of leaving your game for a while, if you're interested in the specifics: http://www.belltreeforums.com/showthread.php?209379-How-To-Not-Lose-Villagers-When-You-re-Away. There have been other threads in which people talk about their experiences as well.

Don't worry, you're not coming across as hostile.

I tried this by waiting until someone pinged to move and I said no, then I tted a year ahead and nobody moved It works for suree

 

[tinyfire]

For me, I TT'd to a later date because I thought this would work & someone moved out when I checked with my new save file - when I TT'd back and came with my mayor, they were still gone \\

So, I think villagers can move when you do this, maybe I should have done it directly after a ping? Although I think I did ... maybe I just did this wrong xD

 

[Cudon]

Can confirm what Laser beams is saying. I'm the kinda person who usually freezes their town on a certain day to have a specific season but I know the method works.

 

[LaparaLaela]

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the guide! That makes things a lot easier. I guess I didn't really think about if I had told a villager to move before I left.

 

[Hypno KK]

No problem! I'm glad I explained it properly.

For me, I TT'd to a later date because I thought this would work & someone moved out when I checked with my new save file - when I TT'd back and came with my mayor, they were still gone \\

So, I think villagers can move when you do this, maybe I should have done it directly after a ping? Although I think I did ... maybe I just did this wrong xD

After checking with a new save file, did you just load the game as your mayor in the past and then moved back to the present? If so, that doesn't work. When you time travel back to keep villagers from moving, you need to deny a request to move. Just loading the game in the past and again in the present won't do anything.

Did you use the 3DS clock or the in-game one? If you used your mayor to time travel using the in-game clock, that might have been why. When you load as your mayor, it saves your town the way it is.

You don't have to do it after a ping, you just have to deny a villager's request to move on the last day before a large gap in playing the game. For example, if you told a villager to stay now, you could play the game later today again before a long hiatus, and what would count was the date you told the villager to stay and not whether it was immediately before quitting. At least, that has been my experience.

Sometime ago, someone told me (in the thread with my guide, I think) about how if nobody is thinking about moving, it will have the same effect. I've tested it since then by time travelling and I think it's true, though it's much less reliable, because sometimes villagers will think about moving the day after you deny a request to move, and sometimes they'll take longer than that.